Posts by Asheroo

JV has posted a few shots to tease us the beta. Check it out here, it looks stunning - https://orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/14…comment-1378857

It's been coming soon for quite some time. Hopefully we'll get some previews real soon. My hope is that it will release sometime after the Vulkan update, whenever that is. Am super looking forward to TrueEarth in AFS2.

But this is the thing AOB - this update will give them a massive performance headroom for all the many features they are yet to implement. Performance is a constant top priority for this sim. Cloud/water management, which includes better graphics, won't have such a performance impact because of this update. Water graphics especially lack compared to other sims. Also terrain and cloud shadows are missing, yet other flight sims have this. The planes might be "fine" for simple up-and-go but for proper flying they lack GPS/FMCs and more actual aircraft simulation. The Vulkan update will give the dev team headroom for this.

As for sceneries, a dev mentioned in another thread that this performance update has resolved issues they were having with Orbx's upcoming Netherlands region. Take a look at this response - Orbx Scenery in Aerofly FS2

This update will prevent this sim from eventually being another flight sim slideshow once it has the amount of features other sims do. Care factor should be 100%.

Awesome work guys!! I hope this means you'll soon implement more resource-intensive features and graphics.

As far as Orbx is going at the moment, at the Flight Sim Expo on the weekend just past they gave some brief previews on their next products for AFS2.

A Twitch streamer managed to get a good view of Orbx's presentation - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/271262083

At 54:45 the presenter shows a preview of KPSP (Palm Springs) for AFS2. He also after another XP airport previews Netherlands True Earth and reiterates how amazing the performance is. Hopefully we'll get a proper preview of these products online soon. I wouldn't be surprised if we get previews as soon as they all get back from Las Vegas anytime now.

It definitely was not quiet a few days ago when we had a debate about demanding things instantly from IPACS, a small development team that takes their time. Good fun.

A Twitch streamer managed to get a good view of Orbx's presentation - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/271262083

At 54:45 the presenter shows a preview of KPSP (Palm Springs) for AFS2. He also after another XP airport previews Netherlands True Earth and reiterates how amazing the performance is. Hopefully we'll get a proper preview of these products online soon.

I haven't seen much else about AFS2 at FSExpo.

As far as I understand, their business/financial HQ is still in Australia, alas why the prices for scenery are in AUD. CEO John V however moved to the UK a while back, but some developers are still in Australia. As an Australian, I appreciate not having to convert currencies everytime I go to buy. Also as a Brisbane-ite I'll have to hunt down their HQ and give them my credit card so I can get the whole world in True Earth for AFS2.

Oh wow, this is really impressive! Excellent work. As it grows, consider offering the airports in batched downloads grouped by their regions. One could download, say, the airports in northern France and easily install them all at once. And then when the download gets updated with new and modified airports you can just re-download and overwrite.

This is absolutely stunning. And to remember there's also US PNW, UK, Ireland and Germany to come as well is super exciting. It will be interesting to see if they have any road/ship traffic tech solution for AFS2.

John V mentioned recently that Orbx are looking into a solution for seasons in XP11 utilising shaders. I wonder if this tech could eventually be possible for AFS2 if there's not any other solution in the meantime, especially as having multiple seasonal textures would take up a massive load of space.

In-terms of the big data downloads, while they did once mention the whole of Germany would be 120GB, John stated in the thread I linked that he's thinking of splitting Germany in half due to the size. So roughly that would be 60GB each. Based on the sizes of the different regions of the UK, I would expect it to be about 60GB for England/Ireland and less for Wales/Scotland/Northern Ireland. These are all just estimates based off the original estimate for all of Germany. We will have to wait and see, but they will certainly be large. The AFS2 DLC regions themselves are 20GB, and not all areas of the DLC have 1m resolution.

I'm wondering that myself too Ed. It seemed when they announced it that it would be sometime soon. Any update Jarrad - ORBX ?

Orbx regions do normally contain default airports which are detailed up a little bit, though John has stated they haven't fully decided what to do with default airports for AFS2 (in regards to how detailed they will be). And Orbx are the ones doing the Pacific North West (PNW) region. That has already been confirmed.

Hey all

While this site was having issues, Orbx announced that they will be doing UK and Ireland regions for AFS2 and other sims. The regions will be packaged like their old detailed regions - into England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland. Germany was also confirmed in the announcement (previously it hasn't been 100%). The photoreal region product lineup name will be formally announced this weekend. For more info, check it all out here - https://orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/15…fs2-and-fsxp3d/

Orbx CEO John Venema later confirms in the thread some extra details - the photos will be 1m resolution; he is considering discount options but it wouldn't be the normal 40% cross-platform discount due to the high cost of the orthoimagery (the photos are being taken with a low-flying plane) and they will cost the normal region price ($AU 54.95).

As far as AFS2 goes, LOWI by Orbx is the one I keep going back to. I love mountains, and I love Orbx scenery. The sharp snow-capped peaks are a beauty to see and detail of the airport is stunning. Flying around that scenery in VR is something real special. I look forward to more of this kind of scenery with PNW.

Are there any plans to possibly incorporate autopilot off and TO/GA commands for VR hands? Possibly an assigning of the buttons on the controllers? This could come in very handy for IFR flights. It seems from my testing that you can't click on the buttons on the sides of the throttle levers and yoke.

I remember very well IPACS mentioning support for Oculus Touch controllers throughout last year. It was one of the promising features which convinced me to get an Oculus bundle. They have stated the only reason it took longer was because they decided to add support for Vive controllers, which created a lot more work for them. I remember thinking we were going to have the Touch support by Christmas. Also, they are a team of 4-5 from memory, so keep that in mind.

Fair enough and very understandable. I actually am really enjoying it. The whole experience of being able to use the virtual hand gestures to fly it all is awesome. Sure it's a little difficult at first, but after a few flights I got the hang of it. Personally I actually feel a whole lot more connected to it. I've been simming for 10 years and this is an exciting new experience in flight simulation. But of course, it's just one of many. I will still be flight simming with P3D and my joystick and yoke for years to come alongside VR-ing in AFS2.

I don't think ATC should have come. I trust IPACS' prioritising as they carefully develop this sim.

I found it a little challenging on my first flight. But on my second flight I started to gain a better sense of where my hands were. keep in mind I have never flown a plane in real life before. The trick is to not move around too much. If you're flying with the yoke, you should be able to reach comms with your right hand from your seating position. If you move your body over too much to get closer to the comms then your left hand is likely to cause problems with the yoke.

Using my Oculus Rift and Touch controllers - oh wow what an experience. My heart raced as I took off in the 172 and wasn't ready for how reactive one can be with the yoke, haha. Now I know what instructors mean when they say "gentlly/slowly" in videos of pilot trainees taking off. It's a real experience. I shall keep refining my skills. The feedback on the controllers is really helpful, and the menus are implemented very well. Excellent work IPACS!